Today I have to babysit little Amanda.
I started babysitting as a job when I was sixteen, so I could start saving some money.
And yes, sometimes, well, rarely, I can act mature and responsible too. Even though the times I’ve actually been like that can be counted on one hand. But on the hand of someone who’s lost at least two fingers.
I go to the kitchen to grab something to eat. Or to empty the cupboard. Depends on your perspective.
I pull out a tub of ice cream from the freezer. Then I open the cupboard and grab a pack of paprika chips.
Uh, but usually, chip bags are made up of eighty percent air, five percent broken and really broken chip crumbs, and finally only fifteen percent actual chips, which are always either too salty or have no salt at all.
After my little reflection, I decide to take two packs of chips, not just one.
In the end, it’ll be like I only ate one pack anyway.
Then I grab a pack of cooki
I keep staring at my phone screen, open to a Google page, carefully reading through the steps to exorcise Amanda.Jesus, if you're real, please don't let me end up in Hell for traumatizing a little girl.In my defense, I'm doing a service to humanity.I lift my gaze toward my father. "Okay, according to this site, 'Bible Today'—what kind of name is that, anyway?—it says the poor possessed person should be tied up. Apparently, the evil spirit controlling their body—these are the exact words—tends to get violent at the sight of holy water, a cross, or a Bible."I look back at my dad, and we both turn simultaneously toward little Amanda, who’s smiling at us, completely clueless.Dad smiles. "Alright Amanda, we're going to play a game. How about we pretend to be Indians? Does that sound fun?"The little girl claps her hands and laughs.Dad is pleased with this reaction. "Good. You'll be our prisoner, so we&rsqu
Skyler: S.O.S. emergency! Come to my house right now, I need you.That’s the message I just received. After spending the afternoon at Skyler’s with her family, I exchanged numbers with her, James, and with the chocolate bar, also known as Connor.I haven’t had lunch because Amanda ended up telling my mom that it was Dad and I who broke her favorite vase. So, she’s started ignoring us, even when it comes to cooking lunch or dinner. She refuses to cook for us at all, and given the incidents that have happened in the past when Dad or I tried to make anything that involved fire or appliances, we both refuse to even enter the kitchen, let alone make ourselves a sandwich.As soon as Mom leaves to hang out with her friends, Dad and I raid the pantry.I quickly put on my shoes and bolt down the stairs, rushing to get to the front door as fast as possible. I fling the door open, shout to my parents that I’m l
The volume of the music is really loud, so loud that I think I might go deaf as soon as I leave here.Jace and I came to the club, as we do every third Friday of the month. It has become a sort of tradition for us.Jace pulls me by the arm and we head to the bar.You can’t face a night like this without alcohol.Behind the bar is a girl with black hair, who immediately approaches us as soon as we sit on the stools.She smiles at us. “What can I get you?”My cousin shamelessly checks her out from head to toe, then winks at her and licks his upper lip. “You, if possible.”Stupid hormones. Jace acts like a girl with PMS who has her hormones on overdrive.The girl looks at him with disdain, then her gaze shifts to me. “What can I get you, beautiful?” With that, she opens a couple of buttons on her blouse to highlight her chest, and through all this, she’s looking at me and not Jace.
“Are you ready to see my new hair color?”I’m back at the Reid family house because Skyler asked me to come over right away, saying she needed to show me something super mega hyper important.This time I categorically refused to run to avoid falling into a manhole and ending up eaten by the clown instead of at the pond.As if that clown actually existed and could eat me. Aunt Mary’s cakes are scarier.Now we’re in the living room. James, Connor, and I are sitting on the couch while Skyler stands in front of us, with a yellow towel on her head.Connor sighs. “You keep dyeing your hair. Why are you making such a big deal about it now?”Sky points at me. “Because she’s a girl, and these things matter.”James looks at her confused. “So what are you and Connor doing here?”Skyler gasps theatrically, pretending to be shocked. “Oh, but you two aren’t g
“Sweetheart, put this in the car too,” my mother says to Dad.It’s been at least an hour that Mom keeps grabbing things to put in the car, as if we were moving to another continent.My mother is all excited; she loves the sea, while my father has the expression of someone who might as well just kill me, please.I chuckle watching them. “Mom, we’re only going to the beach for one day, not for a month.”She looks at me condescendingly while putting another bag in the car. “Yes, but what about the umbrella? And the deck chairs? And the towels? Let’s not forget the lunch, the drinks, the sunscreen so we don’t catch fire, the cards to pass the time, the flip-flops so our feet don’t burn, a spare swimsuit in case you lose a piece in the water, and I hope that doesn’t happen because it’s embarrassing. Then there’s also the straw hat for taking cute pictures, then you have to bring sung
“Woman, do you have any food?” I approach my mother, who immediately throws a towel in my face, along with some sand.I start rubbing my eyes, trying to get the sand off, and at some point, my dad shows up with a bucket full of water and dumps it on my face.My eyes burn even more since it was sea saltwater, so I start feeling around for my backpack, grab a bottle of water, and my towel to clean my eyes.I feel like they wanted to kill me, I swear. Now my eyes will be so red it’ll look like I just smoked a joint.I glare at the people who are supposed to be my parents, but right now they’re acting like two serial killers. “You know there’s another room for the baby in the house, so there’s no need to kill me to make space.”My dad makes a puppy-eyed face. “But I was just trying to save you; it’s your mother who’s the serial killer.”I blink a couple of times.But
I let my head drop onto the desk surface, now resigned to the idea of understanding anything.“I want to know who invented math,” I murmur, disheartened.I've been sitting in my room for at least two hours trying to do homework, but I don’t understand anything.Out of twelve expressions I've worked on, only two were correct.The most ironic thing is that on the last day of school, the teachers bid farewell to the students saying, “Have a good vacation and have fun. Make sure to do your homework.”It’s a unique contradiction.Or you get the teacher who, since June of the year before, couldn’t wait for the vacations to come back, and therefore says goodbye to everyone by saying, “See you in September, you little brats!”Well, my chemistry teacher was part of the second category and, thank God, he refused to give us any summer homework. His justification was, “Then I’ll have to check th
“So, Brianna, do you have a boyfriend?” It’s been about fifteen minutes since Mrs. Porter and I have been chatting.Or rather, she keeps asking me questions while I keep answering, hoping to escape as soon as possible.“Good, good, the boyfriend is with someone else!” I hope that by using my terrible jokes, Mrs. Porter will stop inviting me to her house.Now that I think about it… what is Mrs. Porter’s first name?I have no idea.It’s almost normal talking to her when she’s not rambling on about her husband.“Did you see Mike? What did I tell you? Boys today aren’t as faithful as they used to be.”Scratch that.Then she turns to me. “You know, Brianna? Before I met Mike, I was with a guy I thought was really the love of my life. And do you know what he did?”Someone please pull me out of this conversation.I shake my head in denial.
December 15thJeremy“Wow, so many elves!” Aisha looks excited.The room is filled with people dressed as elves. I’m not sure I still like elves, not after they ate my cereal and tried to dunk my toothbrush in the toilet.“There are so many people,” I say, watching the line of people in front of us. James and Brianna brought us to Santa’s house, and now we’re waiting in line to tell him what we want for Christmas.“Lots of kids want to see Santa,” Brianna says, running a hand through my hair.“Why are we waiting in line when we could just wait for him at home by the fireplace?” That way, we could eat chocolate chip cookies and drink milk together—hoping the elves don’t steal my cookies.“Because this way, he can hear what you want today and then bring it to you on Christmas by coming through the chimneys,&rdqu
December 14thJames and I walk into his parents' house. The first to greet us is Julie, her arms wide open, ready for a hug. "There's my favorite person!"James steps ahead of me, arms spread for his mom, but she brushes past him and comes straight to hug me.I suppress a laugh at James’s offended, indignant expression—his arms still outstretched in disbelief. "Hi, Mom. It's so nice to know you care about me."Julie lets me go
𝟏𝟑 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫One of my fondest childhood memories during the Christmas season is the tradition of the elf. My parents used to tell me that Santa sent little helpers around the world to check if kids were being good or bad. If they behaved, the elf would leave a small gift, but if they were naughty, the elf would play tricks on them. These elves stayed in our house for almost all of December: during the day, they were lifeless dolls watching over us; at night, they came alive and acted. When I discovered none of it was true and it was my parents leaving the gifts or playing pranks, my heart broke. But I still remember the joy of those moments, which is why I played along when my parents told the story of the elves to Jeremy, once he was old enough to understand.Tonight, my brother is staying over at our house again, and the job James and I have is to make the elf "come alive." My mom let me know Jeremy didn’t behave well today, so we get to tap
December 12I toss the first bag of popcorn into the microwave and grab two giant bowls.Carly has organized a girls' movie night at her place. We each wrote the name of a movie on a slip of paper, drew one, and landed on Titanic. Though I strongly suspect we all wrote down the same film.“Why don’t we try making caramel popcorn?” Skyler asks, looking at us expectantly.“Skyler, darling, have you forgotten who you’re dealing with? I once burned pasta because I fell asleep while cooking. Let alone making caramel. Or any popcorn that doesn’t come out of a microwave.”A ding interrupts us.“Speaking of popcorn, it’s ready!” I exclaim, taking the first bag and emptying it into a bowl before popping the second bag into the microwave.“Yes, but Brianna took a cooking class. She can make food without burning it now,” Skyler says, trying to
December 11I roll onto my left side, curling up and bringing my knees to my chest. I adjust the comforter snugly under my chin and hug my legs. Closing my eyes, I pray the pain subsides quickly. Another cramp pierces through my lower abdomen.I feel a hand touch my shoulder.“How are you feeling?” James’s voice echoes in my mind.I don’t even turn to look at him.“Shh, don’t shout. My head’s splitting.”“I’ll take that as a ‘terrible,’ then,” he whispers.I grimace, even though he can’t see me. Terrible is an understatement.“Would you prefer some tea or hot chocolate?” He continues whispering while his hand sinks into my hair, massaging my scalp.I sigh in relief. “Tea.”I hear him get up from the bed.“Could you bring the hot water bottle too?”He kis
December 10thJamesI rub my eyes, feeling the burn. I’ve spent the last few hours working on the computer, and all I want to do now is relax with Brianna. I shut down my laptop, close it, and leave it on the desk in the study. Heading downstairs to the living room, where I last saw my girlfriend, I’m met with silence. I crane my neck and glance toward the kitchen, but it’s empty. Frowning in confusion, I run a hand through my hair, pushing back the strands that fall over my eyes.“Brianna?”I wait a few seconds, but there’s no response. Rounding the couch, I finally understand the rare tranquility in the house.And for once, it doesn’t foreshadow any disaster.Brianna is lying on the couch, fast asleep. Her expression is so serene it worries me. I step closer, placing two fingers on her neck to check if she’s still alive, and let out a sigh of relief wh
December 9thIf there’s one thing certain about my family, it’s that normality is definitely not for us. Especially when it comes to exchanging Christmas gifts. Why give serious things like underwear or socks when you can give quirky, out-of-the-ordinary, and morally questionable gifts? The beauty of having a family that is anything but uptight or close-minded is the ability to have fun without worrying about shocking or offending anyone. In fact, I used to be the one who was scandalized. Then I outgrew that phase.Ever since my cousin Jase and I started having our own money, exchanging gifts on Christmas Day has taken on a new meaning. In our family, we don’t compete to see who gives the most expensive gift but rather who gives the funniest one. Jase and I give gifts together, and every year we win the award for the best presents.Today's mission: come up with ideas so we know exactly what to buy.Technically,
December 8I close the front door after greeting the delivery driver. A couple of weeks ago, I used an app to print some photos, and they’ve finally arrived today. One of the things I miss most about living with my parents is flipping through the family photo albums every now and then. There are so many iconic pictures of me as a child, and I make sure my brother has his too because looking at them as adults is just amazing.I plan to make albums to keep in this house with photos of James and me, but he hasn’t even chosen his yet.I sit on the couch next to my boyfriend and show him the box in my hand. “Guess what I have here!”James glances at the package. “I hope there are embarrassing pictures of you on the potty because it’s not fair that you’ve seen mine and I haven’t seen yours.”“Point number one: It’s not my fault your parents didn’t grant you
December 7thI step into the house, leaving my jacket and shoes at the entrance. I greet James and head toward the kitchen, hiding my purchase behind my back. "Guess what I bought?"James is leaning against the counter, holding a cup of coffee in his hands. "Tell me it’s not another Christmas decoration," he pleads."Nope, better," I say, sitting at the table. "I bought a house."He chokes on his drink. "You bought what?"I snicker at his expression. "A house. I bought a house, not 'what'.""You... You bought... How... With what money..." He takes a deep breath, sets the cup on the counter, and sits across from me at the table. "Brianna, I think you owe me a few more details." He’s so shocked that he’s gone a little pale.At that point, I place my new purchase in front of us, revealing a gingerbread house kit to assemble and decorate.James looks at me, then at the box, and back to me. He&rsqu